The screams are deafening. Legions of young fans fill the venue, no doubt followers of Troye Sivan from his YouTube days as well as his pop career. You get the feeling this is the future of pop, not just from Sivan's rise on social media, but what he represents to these fans: empowerment.
Sivan is, arguably, the most pre-eminent openly gay popstar of today. He doesn't shy away from gay experience; in fact his songs reflect every facet of it, from joy and exuberance, to sadness, uncertainty and vulnerability. And his fans are there with him, screaming for a hopeful future. When he sings Heaven (a song about his coming out experience) and the audience flickers with rainbow coloured lights held aloft, it's a sign of solidarity.
This popularity is yet to translate into sales and chart success, however. Two albums into his career and Sivan is yet to have a top twenty solo hit in the UK (his highest chart position is at 13 with his Charli XCX collaboration 1999, performed here without her). Perhaps his fans are here for him personally as much as musically.
The lack of chart success is mystifying owing to the quality of his songs. Seventeen opens the show in muted fashion, before we burst into songs like Bloom, Plum, Lucky Strike and Wild - all uptempo fizzing electro pop tracks coupled with a backdrop of fizzing lights. Sivan struts across the stage in a suit and tank top, frequently pausing with arms outstretched in a pose reminiscent of Michael Jackson. He owns every inch of this stage, putting in a performance that's every bit the stadium-filling popstar. Every song hinges on an infectious hook. Each has that euphoric "end of the night" feeling.
The facade is broken between songs as he chats with the audience, at one point literally sitting on a sofa for a natter. In today's pop scene, relatability goes hand in hand with superstardom and Sivan has both in spades. He admits his nerves to the audience, he quips "I feel like I'm in the Lizzie McGuire movie", he speaks of his own sexuality. He even stops the show to sing happy birthday to a fan.
Halfway through he offers us a moment of reflection with a series of downbeat ballads. "Do you feel like getting depressed for a little bit?" he jokes, before singing the heartfelt The Good Side. Sivan sings in a smooth tenor and soft falsetto, inviting us to laugh, cry, dance and everything in between.
Before long, though, he launches into more upbeat pop: the menacing rave of Bite, the playful fun of 1999, the sultry Dance To This (sadly without Ariana Grande). "This was one of the most special gigs of my life," he admits before the cinematic Animal. And then he's back for an encore of Youth and My! My! My!, two songs that sum him up. While the former is a nod to the youthful zest of both him and his fans, the latter is pure unadulterated pop brilliance. It lurches into a dance remix, the light show practically explodes, and the ensuing screams leave our ears ringing into a hopeful future.
4/5
